(AP) MOGADISHU, Somalia — Somali [freedom fighters[ firing rockets and mortars clashed with [Woyanne occupying forces] in fighting that killed at least 17 civilians and two Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers in the capital, witnesses said Tuesday.

The fighting occurred late Monday as Ethiopian Woyanne troops conducted house-to-house searches in Mogadishu’s northern Hiliwa district, traditional elder Mohamud Haji Nur said.

Insurgents also fired mortars and rocket-propelled grenades at a former pasta factory where the Ethiopians Woyannes have a military base. The Ethiopians Woyannes responded with artillery shells that slammed into nearby residential areas, Nur said.

He said his men collected the bodies of 15 civilians.

“Some died while fleeing the fighting while others died in their homes when Ethiopian Woyanne mortars responding to insurgent attacks slammed into their houses,” Nur said.

Two Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers died in the clashes, said another elder, Ali Bashir Ahmed Siyad.

In a separate incident in the south of the capital, the bodies of two young men were retrieved from Monday fighting in which insurgents attacked government troops based at a key junction near the city’s main Bakara market.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991. Thousands of Somalis were killed last year in fighting between Islamic insurgents and a shaky transitional government supported by Ethiopian Woyanne forces.